Crisis at RaiSport over the Olympics: journalists withdraw signatures and announce strike against director Petrecca

The clash at this point is head-on. While the world's spotlights are focused on the slopes of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, a much colder storm is sweeping through the corridors of RaiSport (and Rai in general). The rift is deepening between the editorial staff and its director, Paolo Petrecca, with journalists communicating an unprecedented breaking gesture in the midst of a sporting event of global importance such as the winter games, broadcast by Rai in part and by Warner Bros Discovery (Eurosport, discovery +, Hbo Max: present on Dazn, Timvision and Prime Video) in their entirety, which for the third time in history have landed in Italia.

"From today at 5 p.m. and until the end of the Games, we will withdraw our signature from services, links and commentary, waiting for the company to finally become aware of the damage that the director of Raisport has caused in this order: to the viewers who pay the licence fee, to Rai as a company and to the entire editorial staff of RaiSport who are working as passionately as ever on this great event.

This is a passage from the note drafted by the Cdr and trustee of Rai Sport, who also announce a strike package at the end of the Olympics.

The spark that set off an ill-feeling that was latent anyway was the now-famous report of the opening ceremony. A performance described as 'embarrassing' by his own colleagues. The editorial staff's response has now arrived punctually and very harshly: from 5 p.m. today, journalists will withdraw their signatures from every report, link and commentary broadcast by RAI.

'For three days now,' reads the note, 'we have all been embarrassed, no one excluded, and through no fault of our own. It is time to make our voices heard because we are facing the worst ever figure of RaiSport in one of the most eagerly awaited events ever, the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina'.